SOAR Courses

COURSE

COURSE TITLE

COURSE
DESCRIPTION

EDF 6607

Education in America

Presentation and exploration of the
program philosophy and mission based on national and local data on student
achievement and educational equity. Study of contemporary social forces and
their effect on school counselors’ role in America education. Development of a
philosophy of social action to impact environmental and institutional barriers,
which impede student success in rigorous academic course work.

MHS 6530

Group Leadership Skills for School
Counselors

This
course is designed to provide students with methods, materials, leadership
skills, and counseling techniques appropriate for group work in a school
setting. The course will address group and classroom approaches for promoting
academic achievement and success in school for the at-risk student. Principles
and practices of group counseling, group dynamics, teaching and training models
and skills, teaming and collaboration and working with parent groups will be
covered. Emphasized will be academic, career, college counseling, and school
leadership groups. This course is designed to provide students with methods,
materials, leadership skills and counseling techniques appropriate for group
work and collaboration with teams in a school setting.

MHS 6407

Theories of
Counseling

Theory and
skills for a comprehensive school guidance program: Individual, solution
focused, brief counseling theories, group and systems advocacy.

SDS 6940

Practicum in School
Counseling

In
accordance with the conceptual framework, this course is designed to provide
students with skills in counseling and consultation, organization and
implementation of parent, faculty/staff development activities, and strategies
for conducting advocacy and cross-disciplinary collaboration. The course will
have as the primary focus, the completion of the 100 clock hour practicum for
school counseling. Students learn to manage resources and secure alternative
funding, access resources and support the academic achievement of K-12 students.

MHS 6780

Legal, Ethical, & Professional
Issues in School Counseling

This
course is a survey of the ethical, legal, and professional issues facing the
school counselor in working with minors in schools. This course is designed to
help educators and School Counselors develop effective written and verbal public
communication skills. An outcome of this course will be that students will
understand the realm of legal and ethical codes for school counselors.

SDS 6310

Career and Lifestyle
Development

Designed to enable
counselors to help individuals assess the skills, knowledge, and
self-understanding necessary to arrive at appropriate career, educational and
lifestyle decisions throughout the life span.

SDS 6832

Internship: Career Advising,
Appraisal, Advocacy

Under the
supervision of a practicing counselor and a university supervisor, students will
demonstrate their knowledge and abilities in the role of career and academic
advisors. This internship will offer advanced studies and practical field
experience in conducting career assessments. (300 clock
hours)

TSL 6700

ESOL for School
Counselors

This
course provides an overview of key issues related to the schooling of
English

Language
Learners (ELLs) and struggling readers as they affect school
counselors.

Emphasis
is placed on such dimensions of diversity as culture, ethnicity, race, language,
social class, exceptionality, gender, age, sexual orientation and their
implications for educational policy, curriculum, and methodology.

SDS 6000

School & Family Managing
Student Behavior

This course is
designed to enhance the relationship between families/care givers and the school
for the purpose of optimizing student behavior for classroom learning. By
examining cultural and ethnic communities, it will give the students tools to
use when working with families. In addition, students will learn effective ways
to include family members as active contributors in their child's education and
overall well being. Students will learn how to create collaborative teams that
will include school personnel, families and other community resources to promote
student learning. The school counselor's role will be explored in managing
classroom behavior when conducting classroom guidance and in helping teaches
with strategies for managing students from various cultural backgrounds. The
classroom environment instructional activities that promote cognitive growth
will be examined. This course will look at profiles and characteristics of
students presenting potential and active behavior problems. Strategies for
preventing and handling on-going behavioral problems are examined.

MHS 6482

Personality and Life
Span Development

The course
provides an examination of personality development throughout the lifespan.
Student will study theories of development, focus on physical, cognitive, social
and personality in the various phases of life, and will consider the
implications for counseling at each developmental stage. Students will construct
their own developmental histories and consider the impact on their potential
work with counselees.

SDS 6014

Organization and Administration of
School Counseling

Introduction to the school
counseling profession. Students develop and deliver character education
lessons, etc. in large group guidance experiences. Students join a School
Improvement Team (SIT) and continue affiliation until graduation. Mentorships
are established between practicing counselors and students. Fifty practicum
hours are gained through classroom guidance and Saturday seminars with
educational leadership students on equity issues.

SDS 6831

Internship: Management of
Resources

One of the
primary goals of this internship is to collaborate with community agencies and
resources to help school counselors extend their reach to all students in an
effort to remove environmental barriers which impede academic success. Students
enrolled in this course will increase their knowledge of brokering and managing
resources by visiting and/or having guest lecturers from approximately 20 local
community resources such as the Children’s Hospitals, PACE Center for Girls, and
Child Protective Services, Big Brothers/ Big Sisters. Students will apply their
knowledge to case studies.

(150 clock
hours)

MHS
6421

Counseling Children
and Adolescents

This
course provides an in-depth study of the developmental stage and needs of
children and adolescents. Identified are the dominating issues which impede the
academic development of children and adolescents in schools, e.g., attention
deficit, hyperactivity disorder, eating disorders, children and divorce, neglect
and appropriate interventions for removing academic barriers are studies and
practiced. In-depth information will be given on school and agency resources to
assist students with specialized needs. Methods of consulting with parents,
teachers, administrators, support staff and community agency personnel will be
studied and practiced. Students will participate in the DCPS Resource Fair, CST
and IEP meetings, and will act as a consultant to a teacher. Legal and ethical
issues involving Public Law 94-142 (IDEA) and Section 504 of the Rehabilitation
Act will be discussed.

SDS
6830

Internship: Counseling/Coordination
of Guidance Services

Under the
supervision of a practicing counselor and a university supervisor, students will
demonstrate their knowledge and abilities in the role of individual and small
group counseling, collaborator with other educators, and coordinator of guidance
services. Students will demonstrate their ability to establish and maintain a
comprehensive school guidance program. (300 clock-hours in schools)

This
course is designed to provide counselor education students with the knowledge,
skills, and abilities necessary to function in the role of consultant, one of
the primary roles of the school counselor. A comprehensive model of school
consultation will be presented and the student will have the opportunity to
implement this model with a teacher. Particular emphasis will be placed on
consultation with parents and teachers. Students will learn to select
appropriate individual family, and group strategies to use with diverse
populations.